Vegan Cauliflower Pizza

This is a gluten free and guilt free kind of pizza. The crust is made of cauliflower, a vegetable!! Awesome. The crust is a bit more brittle than regular pizza crust but it's definitely just as tasty if not better. The only downside of this recipe is it is a bit involved and time consuming, but if you enjoy baking/cooking and have the time I recommend trying it. This crust size serves about 2, so double up the crust ingredients to make a larger pizza. I have made non-vegan cauliflower crust in the past, but since it calls for egg to hold everything together I had to find a vegan alternative. I got the recipe for this crust from Detoxinista.

Crust ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
3 tablespoons of ground chia or flax seeds
6 tablespoons of water
½ cup of almond meal
½ teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of garlic powder
½ teaspoon of dried oregano/mixed herb spices

Toppings:
Vegan shredded cheese
Vegan ricotta cheese
Olive oil
1 teaspoon of garlic
Handful of grape tomatoes
2 red onions
Handful of spinach
Marinara sauce


Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut up cauliflower in small chunks and blend together in a food processor until finely grated. Pour cauliflower into a pot with water and boil for about 5 minutes. Drain out water from pot when done and pour cauliflower into a freezer safe bowl. Freeze for about 15 minutes until it cools off.

Combine 2 tablespoons (not the full 3, only 2!) of the seeds with 6 tablespoons of water. This will be your vegan "egg" that will aid in binding everything together. Put in the fridge for 10 minutes or so to allow it to thicken.

Remove the cauliflower from freezer when cooled, and place the mass of it into the middle of a thin dish or tea towel. Squeeze the towel around it to drain any excess water, and place drained cauliflower back in bowl. Add in vegan egg, almond meal, remaining ground seeds, and spices.

Stir well and then spread out on an oil sprayed, foil covered pan (any kind or size, round, square, etc.) in the thickness you desire. It may not fill the pan if the pan is large, but it won't spread out any more either; the dough will stay the size and shape that you make it. Press the dough together well so that there aren't any thin spots that may crack later on.

Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Flip over and bake for an additional 10 minutes to get a more crispy crust.

While crust is baking, sauté onions and tomatoes in olive oil and garlic. Once crust is done, spread on some sauce, cheese, spinach and sautéed toppings (in that order!) in quantities and in an arrangement that you would like. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, and allow to cool when done. Cut into pieces and enjoy :)